Nigerian financial technology firms opting out of their Twitter supports after the government suspended operations of the social media platform.
Risevest, a Nigerian platform for investments in foreign securities, in an email said it will be pausing its activity on Twitter in compliance with the government ban.
It, however, said its Twitter account will be managed by its United States team.
“Hello Risers! Due to the Twitter ban our account will be managed and run by our US team, which may impact the availability and timing of support in our DMs,” Risevest tweeted on Monday. “Please send your support issues to hello@rise.capital for more immediate response.”
A digital bank, KUDA Microfinance bank, told users that “until the temporary ban on Twitter in Nigeria is lifted, we won’t be able to support you through Twitter” accounts.
An online payment platform, Kongapay, said it will only continue using its Twitter account when the government ban is lifted.
“Due to the temporary ban on Twitter in Nigeria, we won’t be available to support you via Twitter until the ban is lifted,” Kongapay told users.
The payment platform urged their customers to reach out to our Customer Experience Team using any of their communication channels for support.
Although the Nigerian government cited “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence” as a reason for the ban, Twitter said it is negotiating with the authorities.
The government at the weekend said the indefinite ban on Twitter was just temporary but did not say when it will be lifted.
Twitter’s suspension in Nigeria, has, however, begun to take its toll on struggling Nigeria’s economy, leading to a loss of N7.5 billion in the past three days.
According to NetBlocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cyber-security and governance of the Internet, each hour of the social media gagging costs Nigeria about $250,000 (N102.5 million), bringing the daily loss to N2.5 billion. It means the economy would have lost approximately N7.5 billion in the past three days.
Despite the ban, Nigerians are navigating the ban to use Twitter via a virtual private network (VPN) but risk prosecution, according to Nigeria’s attorney general Abubakar Malami.
Malami said the ministry of justice will “swing into action and commence in earnest the process of prosecution of violators of the Federal Government De-activation of operations of Twitter in Nigeria.”
